October 30, 2024
Anthony Burgos-Robles to present 'Escaping from Danger: Prefrontal Mechanisms for Defensive Behavior'
Anthony Burgos-Robles, from the University of Texas at San Antonio, is hosted by K-State's NIH-funded Phase II COBRE Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Approaches to Plasticity, or CNAP, as part of the center's 2024-2025 Neurosync Speaker Series.
Burgos-Robles will present "Escaping from Danger: Prefrontal Mechanisms for Defensive Behavior" from 3:30-4:30 p.m. today, Wednesday, Oct. 30, in Room 498 of Bluemont Hall. Zoom option. Zoom ID: 948 3837 6242.
This series is designed for specialists and non-specialists alike and invites leading experts to cover topics related to neural plasticity — the changing brain. CNAP invites the K-State community to join them in expanding their knowledge of neuroplasticity and brain function.
Research in the Burgos Lab centers on the neural bases of threat learning and defensive behavior. In his lab, Burgos implements traditional and modern techniques, along with classical and novel behavioral paradigms in models to identify key mechanisms within the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortical areas for the detection and encoding of environmental stimuli and/or situations involving significant threat, and how these brain regions promote the development of defensive behaviors such as freezing, avoidance, and safety-seeking, which represent critical mechanisms for survival. The Burgos Lab is also interested in how prolonged exposure to psychological stressors affects the amygdala and prefrontal cortical areas to produce behavioral states in models that resemble psychiatric diseases, such as post-traumatic stress, generalized anxiety, and specific phobias to cues, places, or social conspecifics.